Comics that make me buy comics (or, JLA as gateway drug)

I admit it. I've got a history of doing just what the comic companies want me to, and starting to buy one book because I already enjoy another related title.

The Avengers did this to me. I started buying Iron Man when I was in high school, because I liked him in the Avengers. Same with Captain America (although that one didn't stick after it reached a certain level of miserable, and didn't make a reappearance until Brubaker). And I never did go for Thor, come to think of it... But miniseries? Yeah, I bought the Hawkeye mini. Decent, but clear evidence that the guy couldn't possibly support his own title. Spinoffs? Bought and enjoyed West Coast Avengers for as long as it lasted. (I don't count Ms. Marvel or the Spider-Woman mini because they have strong nostalgia value of their own, and She-Hulk is in a class by herself.)

The X-Men did this to me, gods help me, way back when. Uncanny. Astonishing. No-adjective. X-Factor. Excalibur (easily the best at that time). That, of course, worked against 'em because X-Men Crossover Syndrome was one of the things that drove me away from comics for ten years. Yeah, I'm still bitter. Still won't touch an X-Men book. (That's an exaggeration. The twelve-year-old gets New X-Men and I usually read it. But I buy none for myself!)

More recently, my long-term fondness for Fantastic Four led me to get the Human Torch mini and the much-mourned Thing. No, age has not made me less of a sucker.

So I figured something similar would happen when I started getting into the DC books, particularly since the title I dove into was JLA, a group book. (Late 90s/early 00s, see various discussions of the TPBs earlier in this blog. Have also read some of the Giffen/DeMatteis stuff in TPB form.) Did it happen? Well, of the regulars in the Morrison run:

Aquaman
Good in a group, no desire to read him outside of that, the whole stuffed-shirt thing really only works when there's someone to react. Sorry. (Kind of how I feel about the Sub-mariner as well, honestly. Maybe it's because I don't like fish...)

Batman
Actually, I went through a Batman phase not long after getting back into comics. I'm not sure why--I think possibly because the kids were watching the animated seres at the time--but for a while I bought a number of the various Batman titles. The phase passed, and I stopped getting tbe books, I'd say cold turkey but that implies a difficulty that wasn't present. As in real life, there's only so much moody emo-ness one can take in a man. However, I find him perfectly tolerable in group books. As for his own titles, however, I'm done.

Flash
I've only ever read the Wally Flash, and found him a decent read although not of enough interest to get me to buy his book. I did get a few issues of the new Flash book, new character and all that, but have given it up. The Flash concept isn't one that I find interesting enough on its own to enjoy the book if the characters aren't scintillating, which they haven't been. (Except for Jay. Get me a Jay Garrick book and I'll buy it.)

Green Lantern
This was the one that worked the best on me, leading me to not only get new GL comics but to pick up a few GL TPBs. The concept of Green Lantern is a good one, good enough to make up for a few bad stories, and the one I read first--Kyle Rayner--is pretty likeable. He certainly made more interesting use of his powers than the older Lantern seemed to. I'm now getting the current Ion mini, as well as both the Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps series.

Martian Manhunter
For some reason, J'onn appeals to me without appealing to my need to buy. :) Actually, he hasn't had a title to buy until recently, has he? It's all right, not one I put at the top of the comic stack when I sit down to read, but it isn't at the bottom either. I don't know that I'd read an ongoing, though.

Plastic Man
Plastic Man is the awesomest, and I would buy his book in a minute if he had one.

Superman
I've never been able to muster up much enthusiasm for Superman, although I think his marriage to and relationship with Lois has made him a more interesting character. Works best in a group, as far as I'm concerned. (And the number of titles he appears in would make me reluctant to start getting heavily into him, strictly from a financial standpoint.)

Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is just cool. Yeah, I'm getting the book, although I'll admit that it took a relaunch to get me to do it (but I probably wouldn't be keeping it if I wasn't pretty sure that Diana was going to return to duty soon enough). I like her, the kids like her, there's really nothing bad to say about her.

So on the whole, I'd say that it was a partial success.

But you never know how these things are going to work.

After all, reading Identity Crisis got me interested in the Atom, which was why I ordered the new Atom title. In this case Ray Palmer got his foot in the door, but it was the new guy who came inside and made himself at home. It's a fun book, a current favorite, and I plan to keep getting it--but I wouldn't have done so if I hadn't read the far more depressing Identity Crisis. The Atom's appearances with the Justice League never did that for me (they were pretty brief, of course).

I've just started reading Birds of Prey; as far as I know, none of the regular cast have their own books. I don't know that I'd pick up an Oracle title or a Huntress title, but I'd definitely pick up a Black Canary book if there were one. (Speaking of whom, am I misremembering or isn't this Canary the second one--she took over the job from her mom? Would mom be an option to fill in for Dinah Jr. in BoP? Just because it would be nice to see an active superheroine who's somewhere within my own age group! :))